Kolkata hospitals report small uptick in Bangladeshi medical tourists
Medical tourism rating agency says Bangladesh accounts for 50% to 60% of India’s international medical tourists
After last year's political changeover in Bangladesh dealt a blow to the inflow of people from the country to Kolkata for medical treatment, hospitals say the number of medical tourists from Bangladesh appears to be creeping up again over the past six months.
Despite unrest in Bangladesh and concerns over slow visa issuance, the country remained the top source of medical tourists to India in 2024, with the total number standing at 482,336, close to the 2023 figure of 499,951, according to Indian tourism ministry data. The number was 326,805 in 2022.
The first four months of this year saw the number of foreign tourist arrivals in India for medical purposes reach 131,856.
The medical tourism ecosystem – which includes service providers, facilitators, hospitals, and commercial agencies such as hotels and airlines – took a major hit after the political turbulence in Bangladesh. However, industry players say the situation is gradually improving.
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Medical tourism rating agency CareEdge says Bangladesh accounts for 50% to 60% of India's international medical tourists.
India's Medical Value Travel (MVT) sector was valued at $2.89 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $13.42 billion by 2026, driven by increasing foreign patient arrivals seeking quality and cost-effective treatment, according to tourism ministry data.
Desun Hospital in the Ruby area of South Kolkata says it has been recording a rise in the footfall of Bangladeshi patients since April this year.
Ruby General Hospital, which received around 800 Bangladeshi patients a month a year ago, saw the number fall to about 200 after the political turbulence and is now receiving around 400, still well below the earlier level.
"The figure has improved in the last two months but is still half of what we used to get," said its general manager (operations), Subhasish Dutta.
Hospitals of the Manipal Group have also recorded a partial recovery. Ayanabh Debgupta, regional chief operating officer of Manipal Hospitals (East), said the delay faced by medical tourists from Bangladesh "is gradually easing, allowing more patients to access the treatment they want."
He added that there has been an increase in patients coming from Bangladesh. "After the political turbulence, the number of patients from Bangladesh dropped to around 1,700 a month but has now risen to an average of 3,000 to 3,500, with nearly 40% of them being new registrations," Debgupta said.
He also said the group's hospitals are issuing an average of 300 medical visa recommendations per day for Manipal Hospitals facilities in eastern India.
Low number of Bangladeshi patients at OPDs
Peerless Hospital in South Kolkata, another medical facility popular with Bangladeshi patients, now receives 15 to 20 people from Bangladesh a day at its outpatient department. The number was around 150 a year ago, and admissions are now rare.
A spokesperson for the hospital said visas are likely being processed slowly, which has kept the number of patients low for more than a year.
Some private hospitals say one reason for the low number of Bangladeshi patients at OPDs is the growing use of telemedicine, particularly for follow-up care.
"Non-emergency cardiac patients on medical management or pre-existing IVF patients are opting for online consultations," said Supriyo Chakraborty, group adviser at BP Poddar Hospital.
An official at Peerless Hospital said this may explain why the facility has not been offering online consultations and is instead waiting for the situation to normalise for in-person visits.
At RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Mukundapur, Bangladeshi outpatient visits fell from about 6,000 a month in June 2024 to just 1,800 in July 2025, according to R Venkatesh, group chief operating officer of Narayana Health, which operates the hospital.
